Contents

History

Origins

The first rugby match in Argentina was played in 1873, in the Buenos Aires Cricket Club Ground sited in Palermo, Buenos Aires. Only 24 players (all of them were English) could meet to contest the match. The teams were named Bancos ("Banks" in Spanish) and Ciudad ("City") and formed with 11 and 13 players respectively.

That same year, another match was played on the Polo Field of Flores AC, part of land owned by the Unzué family. The teams were called Inglaterra ("England") and El Mundo ("The World"). The first team was formed by Royal Navy officers that were temporarily in Buenos Aires, with the addition of some English citizens who resided in Argentina. Its rival was formed by English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish people plus some Argentine-born players of English descent.

On May 14, 1874, the Rugby Football Unionrules were adopted to play rugby in Argentina. Those rules were used for the first time during the match contested at Buenos Aires Cricket Club between two teams from that institution. The teams were called El bando del Sr. Trench ("Mr. Trench's side"), and El bando del Sr. Hogg ("Mr. Hogg's side").2

Nevertheless, other sources say that the first game under the rules of rugby was played on Thursday, 14 May 1874, at David Mathven's country house, in Caballito, Buenos Aires.34 Buenos Aires FC also played the first inter-provincial rugby game in Argentina, when it faced Rosario AC in the city of Rosario, on 28 June 1886.5

First championship organized

In 1899, clubs Belgrano AC, Rosario AC, Lomas AC, and Buenos Aires FC founded the "River Plate Rugby Championship", which would become today's Argentine Rugby Union.1 The body organized the first championship that same year, played by the four founding members. In the inaugural game, Lomas defeated Buenos Aires by 11-4.6 Lomas would be the first Argentine champion, winning the title at the end of the season.4

The sport requested an affiliation with the International Olympic Committee (COI), who advised them to add Argentina to their name and so they became the "Unión Argentina de Rugby" on 29 November 1951.

This body, one of the oldest rugby unions in the world, became a member of the International Rugby Board (IRB) after being invited to the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987.

When the rest of the rugby union world went professional in 1995, the UAR decided to keep the game amateur. Argentine players who opt to go overseas to play professionally (historically in Italy and France, with an increasing number today playing in England) remain eligible for national team selection (although this was not originally the case), and the current national team is heavily, though not exclusively, made up of European-based players.

National team

The first national team (under the name "The River Plate Rugby Football Union") made its debut against the British Lions (named "Combined British") when they toured Argentina in 1910 as part of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the Revolución de Mayo. The match was played on 12 June and the Argentina side lost 28-3.78